Magna Vitae secures extra ‘SO Fest’ funding

Magna Vitae has secured another round of Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) funding, working jointly with ELDC and other funding partners.

SO Festival, launched in 2009 and now into its ninth year, has brought entertainment to residents and visitors to East Lincolnshire, and the NPO funding will enable Magna Vitae to continue to do so.

Peter Knott, area director, Arts Council England, said: “Creative talent is everywhere but opportunity is not, which is why we’re delighted to be funding SO Festival to inspire people, no matter what their background, to enjoy arts and culture.

“It’ll be great to see SO Festival continue to provide opportunities for artists and arts organisations to develop new work and encourage new audiences to get involved with outdoor arts.”

Mark Humphreys, chief executive at Magna Vitae, said ‘We are delighted to be offered this ACE grant award and to have secured the support of ELDC for a further four years.

“It recognises SO Festival as being of national importance and is a great accolade to the work of everyone involved.

“We look forward to developing the SO Festival programme into a new format over the coming years to continue to deliver high quality cultural offerings to the local area’

Leader of ELDC, Councillor Craig Leyland, added: “This award is testament to the commitment of both the District Council and Magna Vitae to enable the local area to continue to benefit from events such as SO Festival, which raises the profile of East Lincolnshire as a visitor destination and creates opportunities for the community locally to experience great events.”